This year's Boat Contest, held in the Winter Garden, featured ingenuity and a lot of fun, as Abbey students tested their skills in boat design and production with a spin around the Winter Garden pool.
In the annual Boat Contest, students construct vessels which must push a small ball to the opposite side of the fountain in the Winter Garden, while an opponent's boat is trying to push the ball the opposite way at the same time. Each team must adhere to strict rules pertaining to the size of the boat, materials used and power srouces allowable in creating the vessels.
Sixteen students participate this year, constructing nine self-propelled boats. The entries were:
Team #1: Cameron Shirley '10, Michael Popham '09
Team #2: Sun Choi '09, Kyle Moriarty '09
Team #3:
Victor Ferrero '09, Sam Shore '09
Team #4: Austin Lannon '10
Team #5: Rogan Van Gruisen '08, William Sheehan '09
Team #6: Graham Skinner '08, Isaac Holmstrom '08
Team #7: Michael McGlaughlin '11, Riley Kinnane '11, Michael Flanigan '11
Team #8: Ligia Vela '11
Team #9: Kenton Gilmartin'10, Brendan Connolly '11
After each team had participated in three preliminary matches, the Final Four (teams 1, 2, 3 and 9) were selected to compete in the elimination matches for the 2008 Championship. The match between Teams 1 (Shirley-Popham) and 2 (Choi-Moriarty), was won by Team 1, an especially exciting victory for teammates Shirley and Popham since they had lost to Choi and Moriarty in an early match when they pushed the ball around the fountain to the wrong side.
In the tightly contested match between Teams 3 (Ferrero-Shore) and 9 (Gilmartin-Connolly), Team 9 pushed the ball to victory. That left Teams 1 and 9 for the final round, which the Shirley-Popham team won by decisively pinning the ball behind a column in the fountain.
Special credit goes to Isaac Holmstrom and Graham Skinner (Team 6) for their innovative use of balloons to power their boat. Also deserving of recognition is Ligia Vela, our only female competitor.
Congratulations to the 2008 Champions: Cameron Shirley and Michael Popham!
Reported by Science Department Head and Boat Contest Coordinator Robert Rainwater; photos courtesy of Br. Joseph Byron.
View photos of the Boat Contest here.
